Pottsville school revamp 'not enough'

STATE Labor claims the Pottsville community has been ignored by the NSW Nationals despite a $15-million investment into the Pottsville Beach Public School.

Tweed MP Geoff Provest was joined by Education Minister Rob Stokes on Wednesday to inspect the Pottsville school which is set to benefit from 13 new permanent classrooms and administration facilities when the project is completed next month.

All classrooms will be air-conditioned under the State Government's Cooler Classrooms program.

Mr Provest said only the NSW Liberals and National Government could "deliver the new and upgraded schools the Tweed community deserves”.

"The NSW Liberals and Nationals are providing facilities that allow students to achieve their best while at school. When they were last in power, Labor shut 90 schools and left the others to fall into disrepair,” Mr Provest said.

"It is only the NSW Liberals and Nationals that are able to deliver for public education in NSW.”

Mr Stokes said the State Government was investing $6billion over four years into schools across NSW, with a record $847million being spent on school maintenance, the largest public education infrastructure investment in NSW history.

But State Labor candidate for Tweed Craig Elliot said the NSW Government's failure to commit to building a high school in Pottsville meant they "had their priorities all wrong.”

In August of last year, Tweed Shire Council knocked back an application by developers to subdivide the Seabreeze Estate in Pottsville which has long been retained for a high school. Newland Developers have since asked for a review of the decision.

Last November, State Labor committed $40million to build a high school in Pottsville if it were elected in March, despite the Department of Education stating it had no plans to build a school there.

Mr Elliot said there were currently 850 high school students who have to travel at least half an hour by bus to attend schools outside of the area such as Kingscliff High School.

He said the existing Pottsville Beach Public School was bursting at the seams and that a high school at Pottsville was long overdue.

Mr Elliot said the Nationals had "ignored the needs of this growing community.”

"The Pottsville community has been calling for a local high school for more than a decade but those calls will never be answered by Geoff Provest and his Sydney-centric government,” Mr Elliot said.

"Geoff Provest is the problem here, he has the wrong priorities - preferring to splurge on Sydney stadiums rather than fund a high school in Pottsville.

"The choice at the state election on March 23 is clear, Pottsville families need and deserve a truly local high school and only a NSW Labor Government will build it,” Mr Elliot said.